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March 2011

March 31, 2011

Sweet little animated Google doodle today, celebrating what would have been the 200th birthday of the man responsible for many a classroom incident – Robert Bunsen. He is, of course, the German scientist who developed the good old Bunsen burner.

March 23, 2011

March 21, 2011

This month we witnessed one of the most shocking natural disasters to have happened in my lifetime. A massive earthquake, subsequent tsunami and then nuclear disaster that seems to have devastated the majority of Japan’s East coast. What has made this series of events so shocking to us, watching on in horror from our safe little tax ridden country is that we have been able to watch live footage of the disaster as each event occurred. I’m not really sure how to describe the images of that massive wall of water literally swallowing buildings/ cars and anyone in its path including the Fukushima l Power Station.

The coverage of the Earthquake/Tsunami combo has now quickly been dropped whilst the world watches a nuclear disaster evolve from the aftermath at Fukushima. People within a 30 mile radius have been evacuated and may already have been exposed to high levels of radiation and the workers desperately trying to fix the problems at the plant have been dubbed the Nuclear Ninjas on a suicide mission to save Japan. This got me, and evidently some of my younger cheerleading students thinking:

Why can’t they just turn the Power Station off??

I laughed when I was first asked this and then realised I didn’t actually know the answer. I had no idea about how Nuclear power works or is created. The only thing I really know about Nuclear anything is to be afraid of it? So I thought I’d spend some time actually finding the answer to that question. Why can’t they just turn it off??

Here is the brief explanation from my masses of research: (and helpfull diagram!)

Nuclear fuel comes in the form of enriched uranium, which naturally produces heat as uranium atoms split. (A similar process is used in Nuclear Bombs)

This heat is used to boil water, which then produces steam that drives a turbine, which then spins a generator to create electricity; the steam is then cooled and fed back through the system in a cycle. The amount of heat generated by the reactor is so vast that it needs a constant flow of water in order to ensure the fuel rods (made of uranium pellets) don't overheat and therefore melt down which would be catastrophic.

The temperature is also controlled by aptly named control rods, which control how much heat is generated by the fuel. When fully inserted they have essentially shut down the fuel rods, when pulled all the way out the fuel produces maximum heat. Now when the earthquake hit the control rods automatically inserted fully into the fuel rods and the plant went into shut down. Done! Well not quite….

Uranium fuel doesn't have an off switch and even in shut down continues to produce heat for quite some time and therefore needs the cooling system to continue operation to prevent meltdown. Obviously this was already considered and the plant has back up systems in case the electricity to the pumps supplying water was ever cut.

1: Their main electricity source

2: The main grid can then supply the power

3: If that fails they have back up diesel generators

4: If they fail they have battery-powered pumps that can last several hours until electricity is restored.

When the earthquake hit the worst-case scenario unfolded. The plant went into shut down and therefore their electricity supply went too. Next the main power grid became unstable and therefore also shut down. Then the tsunami hit and destroyed the diesel generators, which were not high enough to withstand the force or quantity of water. The batteries were therefore the last source of electricity but only lasted a few hours. More generators were sourced but weren’t hooked up in time and without power to the pumps the fuel rods began to overheat. This cracked the metal tubes holding the uranium, exposing the fuel to water where it began producing hydrogen gas. This is called Thermolysis! As you are probably aware, hydrogen is highly explosive and as the pressure built up we saw a series of explosions. These were hydrogen explosions not nuclear explosions.

In a last ditched attempt to contain the situation they flooded the reactors with boron infused seawater. The boron similar to the control rods acts as a coolant to the fuel. However flooding the reactor has now permanently damaged the plant but this was a better alternative to a complete meltdown, which would have been catastrophic.

The uncertainty now comes in Japan’s future supply of electricity. About half of Japan's power came from these plants damaged by the tsunami and they are now potentially permanently shut down. Building a new plant may take a decade.

To put it in perspective, Three Mile Island disaster was a level 5 incident... this is level 6, Chernobyl was a 7.

So there it is the not so simple answer to why you can’t just turn a power station off.

March 10, 2011

For those of you that have seen the film "Up" (If you haven't be sure to check it out, it's brilliant) this should fill you with excitement and wonderment.

Yesterday morning, March 5 at dawn, National Geographic Channel and a team of scientists, engineers, and two world-class balloon pilots successfully launched a 16′ X 16′ house 18′ tall with 300 8′ colored weather balloons from a private airfield east of Los Angeles, and set a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted. The entire experimental aircraft was more than 10 stories high, reached an altitude of over 10,000 feet, and flew for approximately one hour.

It just goes to show that when a group of people put their heads together even the seemingly impossible can become a reality. Now, if they can make a device so that you can hear what dogs are saying...–Guy

March 04, 2011

Found this bedroom design on an interior design blog called Freshome.com and I think it’s just marvellous. It made me actually upset that I’m not a kid anymore! I’m not quite sure exactly how insanely big your house would need to be to incorporate a slide and crows nest but I do think its made the bedroom into an inspiring environment.

We’ve recently been talking about revamping the office and with so much of our lives spent here the actual design decisions have been difficult to agree on. Some of us want it clean, modern, clinical and open and others want their own little personalised nook to escape into. Needless to say we’re undecided.

Anyway, there are lots of ideas on the go at the moment and I wont steal Ian’s thunder by revealing them but during my digging and researching I have come across some really clever and interesting concepts/ products I thought I would share with you.

Firstly, storage! If you are anything like us, you will keep EVERYTHING. We all have desks filled with books, files, toys, images, clients work, clients products etc and we all have the same problem of running out of space to put our laptop or notepad. We do already have a studio that is lined with bookshelves which helps and I love bookshelves. I love the look of them, how they show just the spine of the book and create beautiful patterns and shapes. That’s the great thing about the kinds of books that are relevant to designers.. they all tend to be beautiful or at least interesting and unusual.

The following images are of a plain white bookcase referenced only as the Italian Fitting Bookcase. (Unfortunately the blog I found this in didn’t say who makes it or designed it! Doh!) I think you could pretty much do this with any modular shelving system but I really liked the idea that you can take a regular bookcase and use it in different ways. I am also a sucker for white bookcases on white walls.

March 02, 2011

When it comes to art, I have a fairly simple philosophy. I either like it or I don't. I am really not into the pretentiousness that is commonly associated with the art world, I just like looking at stuff that gives me some sort of reaction, be that confusion, laughter, cringing, so long as it gauges a response. The same sort of reactions I got when seeing some of Erwin Wurm's work on a blog recently. If I were to put my art hat on for a second I guess I would describe it as Modern Surrealism?... whatever it is it's great. –Guy

March 01, 2011

February is always a full on month for me. I have lots of family occasions to celebrate, one of these being my own birthday. This year it was a big one – I hit 40!! Now, rather than dwell on the negatives I’ve been thinking about the past 40 years and some of the things I remember and some key events that have influenced my life.

I’m sure these will be different for everyone, depending on age, culture and family values but here are some of mine:

1970’s

Obviously being very young in the 70’s I have very few memories. I know there was the launch of the Sony Walkman (22 June 1979) and that Elvis Presley died (16 August 1977). And, even though, I didn’t really know who Elvis was I still remember the exact time and place when I was told.

Key memories from the 70’s for me are Grease (the movie). I loved it then and still do now - but I have a soft spot for musicals - and the introduction of Morph, the Plasticine man from Take Hart.

wizardofbaum.blogspot.com i-love-gadgets.com

urberchicblog.blogspot.com

1980’s

The 80’s were a great part of my life and I have really good memories of being a teenager. I loved the whole New Romantic period, especially Duran Duran. I was also into Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the whole ‘Relax’ phenomena. I particularly remember staying up late to watch the first screening of the ‘Two Tribes’ video. And yes, I was one of those kids who walked round proudly in a WAR t-shirt. Michael Jackson’ Thriller album, Fame (the series), Dexy’s Midnight Runners ‘Come on Eileen’ and Footloose (the movie) are key influences in my childhood. I definitely danced around a lot.

For me the 80’s has some great moments – the launch of MTV and the Live Aid concert but even the early 80’s, when I was still very young, are happy times with the Cabbage Patch Doll craze, the invasion of PacMan and of course who can forget ‘Who Shot JR’. Dallas was the highlight of my week.

Other key events from the 80’s include the fall of the Berlin Wall and of course the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana.

news.bbc.co.uk 8ball.co.uk

www.wired.com jspivey.wikispaces.com

1990’s

I will never forget the introduction of the Poll Tax in the early 1990’s. I was still living with my family and suddenly responsible for a monthly bill!

Other key events of 90’s: The cloning of Dolly the Sheep, the huge court case in the US of OJ Simpson, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the Euro Tunnel, the launch of the public facing internet and of course the death of Princess Diana.

There were some great films and TV programmes throughout the 90’s, from chick flicks like Pretty Woman and Ghost to some shockers like Silence of the Lambs and Basic Instincts. I also really enjoyed The Matrix – Sci-Fi is my thing! I watched lots of American TV in the 90’s, Beverley Hills 90210 and ER – what was I thinking!!

And who can forget the 1990 World Cup and Paul Gascoigne crying on the pitch.

www.fanpop.com www.marcuseast.org

2000’s

On a personal level this era was important as I got married and had two children.

The key events that spring immediately to mind are the World Trade Centre attacks, the introduction of the Euro (no more messing with Pesetas), the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled, the first Big Brother (who can forget Nasty Nick) and Britain’s Got Talent – especially Paul Potts and Susan Boyle. And I was really into The Da Vinci Code (but definitely preferred the book).

www.mirror.co.uk www.dailygalaxy.com

2010’s

Which brings us on to the current era. It’s too early to say what will happen but I’m hoping for some great things.